Teachable and Kajabi are two of the most popular course platforms, but they solve different problems. Teachable is a course-selling platform — strong checkout tools, native mobile apps, and affiliate marketing. Kajabi is an all-in-one marketing platform that includes courses — built-in email, landing pages, funnels, and automation. The right choice depends on which side of that equation matters more to your business.
Teachable vs Kajabi at a Glance
| Teachable | Kajabi | Ruzuku | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price (annual) | $29/mo (Starter) | $69/mo (Kickstarter) | Free |
| Real starting point (annual) | $69/mo (Builder, 0% fees) | $119/mo (Basic) | $83/mo (Core) |
| Transaction fees | 7.5% on Starter; 0% on Builder+ | 0% on all plans | 0% on all plans |
| Email marketing | Not built in | Built-in with automation | Not built in |
| Sales funnels | Basic landing pages | Full funnel builder | Not built in |
| Mobile apps | iOS & Android | Branded app ($199/mo+) | No native apps |
| Affiliate marketing | Strong, built-in | Basic | Not built-in |
| Podcasting | Not included | Built-in hosting | Not included |
| Live teaching (Zoom) | No | No native integration | All plans |
| Community discussions | Basic | Basic community hub | All plans, integrated in courses |
| Student tech support | Not included | Not included | Included on all plans |
| Best for | Course selling at scale | All-in-one marketing + courses | Teaching-first course businesses |
Pricing: What You Actually Pay
The sticker-price gap between Teachable and Kajabi is real — but the full picture is more nuanced than it appears. Teachable is cheaper as a standalone course platform. But if you need email marketing, landing pages, and funnels, you'll bolt on external tools that close the gap.
The Kajabi pricing reality
Kajabi's cheapest tier is the Kickstarter plan at $69/month (annual billing). But it limits you to 1 product and 50 contacts — barely enough to test the platform, let alone run a business. The real starting point is the Basic plan at $119/month (annual), which gives you 3 products and 1,000 active contacts.
Teachable's Builder plan — the first tier with zero transaction fees — is $69/month (annual). That's $50/month less than Kajabi's Basic, or $600/year in savings. But Teachable doesn't include email marketing, landing pages, or funnels. Those require external tools.
The total cost equation
Here's what the math looks like when you factor in the tools most course creators actually need:
| Monthly revenue | Teachable Builder | Kajabi Basic | Ruzuku Core |
|---|---|---|---|
| $3,000/mo | $69/mo | $119/mo | $83/mo |
| $10,000/mo | $69/mo | $119/mo | $83/mo |
| $25,000/mo | $69/mo | $119/mo | $83/mo |
Annual pricing shown. All three plans have zero transaction fees at these tiers. Standard payment processing fees (Stripe/PayPal ~2.9% + 30¢) apply to all platforms. Kajabi Kickstarter ($69/mo) excluded — limited to 1 product and 50 contacts.
The revenue math is straightforward: all three platforms charge zero transaction fees at these tiers, so the only variable is the platform subscription. Teachable is cheapest, Ruzuku is in the middle, and Kajabi costs the most.
But here's the key insight: if you're currently paying for Teachable ($69/mo) plus Mailchimp or ConvertKit ($30–80/mo) plus a landing page tool like Leadpages ($30–60/mo), your total tool spend is $129–209/month. Kajabi at $119/month replaces all three — and may actually be cheaper than your current stack.
(For a deep dive into each platform's pricing, see our Teachable pricing breakdown and Kajabi pricing breakdown.)
Where Teachable Wins
Native mobile apps
Teachable's iOS and Android student apps are a genuine differentiator. Students can download content for offline viewing, get push notifications, and access courses from their phones without using a browser. Kajabi only offers a branded mobile app on its Growth plan ($199/month annual) and higher — and it's a white-label app, not a standalone student experience.
If your students are on the go — fitness coaches, language learners, professional development — Teachable's mobile apps available on every paid plan give it a clear edge.
Stronger affiliate marketing
Teachable's built-in affiliate system is more mature than Kajabi's. You can set custom commission rates per product, track referral sources, manage payout schedules, and give affiliates their own dashboards. If affiliate-driven launches (JV partnerships, influencer promotions) are core to your sales strategy, Teachable has a meaningful advantage.
Lower entry price
Teachable's Builder plan ($69/month annual) gets you zero transaction fees, 5 published products, and core course features. To get a comparable course setup on Kajabi without severe product or contact limits, you need the Basic plan at $119/month annual. That's a $600/year difference — significant for a solo course creator just getting started.
Simpler interface for course selling
Teachable's dashboard is focused: create courses, set up pricing, track sales. You're not navigating email campaign builders, funnel pipelines, or automation workflows unless you want to. For creators who want a course-selling tool (and are happy with their existing email provider), Teachable's focused interface is an advantage, not a limitation.
Where Kajabi Wins
Built-in email marketing and automation
This is Kajabi's core advantage. Full email sequences, broadcast campaigns, segmentation by tags or purchase history, and automation rules that trigger based on student behavior — all inside the same platform where your courses live. No Zapier. No syncing contact lists between tools. No worrying about email provider integrations breaking.
For coaching businesses where email nurture sequences drive 60–80% of sales, having email and courses under one roof eliminates the most common integration headache in online education.
Full funnel builder
Kajabi includes a visual sales funnel builder with landing pages, checkout flows, upsell sequences, and post-purchase automation. You can build an entire launch sequence — from opt-in to purchase to onboarding email — without leaving Kajabi. Teachable offers basic landing pages and checkout optimization, but nothing approaching a funnel system.
Website and podcast hosting
Kajabi includes a full website builder and podcast hosting. You can run your entire online business — blog, podcast, courses, email list — from one login. Teachable focuses narrowly on course pages; you'll need a separate website (WordPress, Squarespace) and podcast host (Buzzsprout, Transistor) for everything else.
Consolidation economics at scale
Once you're earning $10K+/month, the value proposition shifts. At that revenue level, most creators are paying $200–400/month across multiple tools. Kajabi's Growth plan ($199/month annual) replaces most of them — 15 products, 25,000 contacts, full automation, branded app, and 24/7 chat support. The premium feels less like a premium when you're replacing three or four subscriptions.
What Both Platforms Miss
Having built and run a course platform for 14 years, we've watched thousands of course creators launch, grow, and sometimes struggle on various platforms — including ours. Here's what we've observed that neither Teachable nor Kajabi prioritizes:
Student engagement built into the course
Both Teachable and Kajabi are built around recorded video content. You upload videos, students watch them. Community, if available, lives in a separate section — a "community hub" students visit outside their course, not a discussion thread woven into each lesson.
The research on this is clear: courses with integrated discussion have dramatically higher completion rates. Across 32,000+ courses on our own platform, courses with active discussions average 65.5% completion compared to 42.6% for those without — a 54% improvement. Neither Teachable nor Kajabi makes discussion a native part of the lesson flow.
Student tech support
When a student can't log in, can't access a video, or can't figure out how to submit an assignment, who handles it? On both Teachable and Kajabi, you do. Both platforms offer creator support (help for you as the course builder), but neither provides technical support for your students.
This is one of the most common frustrations we hear from creators who switch to Ruzuku. Our support team handles student technical issues directly — password resets, browser compatibility, payment questions — so you can focus on teaching, not troubleshooting.
Live cohort-first design
Self-paced courses work well for some topics, but many transformative learning experiences require live interaction — group coaching, cohort-based programs, workshops with real-time feedback. Neither Teachable nor Kajabi has native Zoom integration or tools designed around scheduled, cohort-based delivery.
Across our platform data, cohort-based (scheduled) courses achieve 64% median completion versus 48% for open access courses. If live teaching is central to your model, neither Teachable nor Kajabi is optimized for it.
Three Scenarios: Which Platform Fits?
Scenario 1: Sarah runs an affiliate-driven course launch
Sarah has built relationships with 20 health and wellness influencers. Her launch strategy is JV-based: affiliates promote her $297 course to their audiences, and she pays 40% commissions. She needs detailed affiliate tracking, custom commission tiers, and a smooth checkout experience with order bumps.
Best fit: Teachable. Teachable's affiliate system is purpose-built for this model — individual dashboards per affiliate, custom commission rates per product, and checkout optimization (upsells, order bumps, cart recovery) that maximize revenue per click. At $69/month (Builder), she gets all of this without transaction fees. Kajabi has affiliate tools but they're less developed and live on a more expensive plan.
Scenario 2: Coach Alex wants email funnels + courses in one platform
Alex is a business coach selling a $997 group program. His sales process is email-heavy: a free webinar funnel, a 7-email nurture sequence, and a live launch with urgency-based automation. He's currently juggling Teachable, ConvertKit, and Leadpages — three tools, three logins, and contact syncing that breaks periodically.
Best fit: Kajabi. Alex replaces three tools with one. Kajabi's funnel builder handles the webinar opt-in → email sequence → sales page → checkout flow natively. His contact list, purchase history, and email engagement all live in one system. At $119/month (Basic), he's paying less than his current stack of $69 + $49 + $37 = $155/month.
Scenario 3: Dr. Kim runs a live therapy CE cohort program
Dr. Kim teaches counselors how to integrate mindfulness techniques into their practice. Her 6-week program includes live weekly Zoom sessions, peer discussion between sessions, homework submissions, and a certificate of completion for CE credits. She needs students to interact with each other inside the course, not in a separate community space.
Best fit: Ruzuku. Dr. Kim's program is built around live interaction and cohort accountability — exactly what Ruzuku is designed for. Native Zoom integration, integrated course discussions (not a separate community tab), exercise submissions, scheduled content release, and student tech support all come on the Core plan ($83/month annual). Neither Teachable nor Kajabi offers this combination at any price point.
Switching Between Platforms
We hear from course creators considering platform switches regularly. A few things to know:
- Content transfers manually. You can download your video files and course materials from either platform, but you'll rebuild the course structure on the new platform. Neither offers one-click migration.
- Email is the biggest switching cost from Kajabi. If you've built email sequences, automations, and tagged contact lists inside Kajabi, recreating them on a separate email tool takes significant effort. Export your contacts early and map your automation logic before making the switch.
- Student accounts don't transfer. Your students will need to create new accounts. Active subscriptions can't be moved automatically — you'll need to coordinate the transition with your students.
- Your domain can move. If you use a custom domain, you can point it to any platform. This means your course URLs stay the same for students.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Kajabi worth 2x the price of Teachable?
It depends on your total tool spend, not just the platform price. If you're paying for Teachable ($69/mo) plus an email service ($30–80/mo) plus a landing page tool ($30–60/mo), Kajabi at $119/month may actually cost less than your current stack while reducing complexity. But if Teachable is your only tool and you don't need built-in email marketing, the premium is hard to justify. Calculate your total monthly software spend before comparing platform prices alone.
Does Kajabi have mobile apps?
Kajabi offers a branded mobile app, but only on its Growth plan ($199/month annual) and above. The Kickstarter and Basic plans don't include it. Teachable, by contrast, offers iOS and Android student apps on every paid plan. If mobile access is important to your students, this is a significant advantage for Teachable at a lower price point.
Can I use Kajabi just for courses without the marketing tools?
Technically yes, but you'd be paying for features you're not using. Kajabi's course builder is solid but not substantially better than Teachable's — the premium reflects the email marketing, funnel building, and automation capabilities. If you only need course hosting and selling, Teachable or Ruzuku give you better value for that specific use case.
Which platform has better student completion rates?
Neither Teachable nor Kajabi publishes completion rate data, and neither is specifically optimized for learning outcomes. Both are built around video delivery — upload, watch, mark complete. Course completion depends heavily on your course design and engagement strategies. Platforms with integrated discussion and cohort-based delivery consistently show higher completion rates — our own data shows a 54% improvement when courses include active discussions (65.5% vs 42.6% completion).
Which has better customer support?
Both offer email support for course creators, with chat and priority support on higher tiers. Kajabi adds 24/7 chat support on its Growth plan. However, neither provides direct technical support for your students — when students have login or access issues, you handle it. This is one of the most common frustrations we hear from creators switching to Ruzuku, where student support is included on every plan.
What about Thinkific?
Thinkific is in a different niche from both Teachable and Kajabi — it's a course-building platform with deep customization, SCORM compliance, and unlimited courses on every plan. It's a strong choice for creators who need technical flexibility or corporate/CE training. See our Teachable vs Thinkific and Kajabi vs Thinkific comparisons.
Bottom Line
Teachable and Kajabi serve different needs, and the right choice depends on the kind of course business you're building.
If you want a focused course-selling platform with mobile apps, affiliate marketing, and a lower price point — and you're happy using external tools for email and funnels — Teachable is the better fit. If you want email marketing, sales funnels, and courses under one roof — and your revenue justifies the premium — Kajabi consolidates tools that most creators are already paying for separately. And if you're building a teaching-first business where student outcomes, live interaction, and completion rates matter more than marketing tools — Ruzuku is worth a look.
Not sure which fits? Take our 2-minute platform quiz for a personalized recommendation, or explore all platform comparisons.
Pricing verified as of March 2026. Teachable and Kajabi update pricing periodically — check their websites for the latest. See our detailed breakdowns: Teachable pricing · Kajabi pricing · Ruzuku vs Teachable · Ruzuku vs Kajabi